Castlevania: A Distant Wish
by Infinite Chronicles
Summary: Soma "Dracula" Cruz has become the terror of Lugnica, challenging armies in the name of vengeance, but before his fall, he was kind and gentle, and the love of the maid Rem warmed his heart more than he could ever know.


Castlevania: A Distant Wish

Read first: This is a preview/prototype for an upcoming story of mine Castlevania: Rebirth and Requeim. The story here might be very different from the main story when it's written.

One Shot: Wishing

Cover Image: Soma as Dracula sitting on his throne as the ghostly image of Rem rests by his side.

* * *

The blood red night fell over Dracula's castle, illuminated by the crimson moon brought about by a dark eclipse and within the malefic structure, was Soma "Dracula" Cruz, slouched on his throne as he stared out into the night.

Dracula, a pale young man with shoulder-length hair, the sclera of his eyes a blood red and his irises a bright crimson like the moon in the night sky. He wore a black armored garb with a red trim, adorned with ornate markings and a short cape running down his back just below his waist.

The Dark Prince stood from his throne and approached the mirror in the middle of the throne room, a magical mirror that showed his reflection despite his nature as a vampire. He reached out with a clawed hand and drew a symbol on the mirror to conjure the image of Rem, a sleeping girl with blue hair, blue eyes who was dressed in a maid's uniform.

The maid was in a deep slumber, one she would not awake from soon. Dracula's expression grew distant and sorrowful as he touched the mirror, thinking of love for Rem and his failure to save her.

* * *

With a heavy heart, he reminisced of days past, days he felt now more than ever he took for granted.

It was a few months after Soma was summoned and with each successive use of his powers, more of his soul was consumed by Chaos' influence. He's seen his friends die over and over as he died over and over.

After what must've been the most horrifying death he'd suffered, seeing everyone he loved brutally murdered by the Witch's Cult. Soma finally came to, resurrected at the point in time when he was at the marketplace with Rem.

"Soma, what's the matter?" Rem noticed how pale Soma was and how distraught he looked. Giving him a concerned expression

"It's you…" Soma said in disbelief, though this isn't the first time this happened, seeing Rem immediately after seeing her die was still a shock to him.

"Yes, it's me. Your Rem." She touched his cheek softly, hoping that Soma was okay. "Goodness, I didn't notice. This city crowd is making you tired, isn't it?"

"What did you say…" Soma still looked mortified; his eyes wide with terror. "Oh, yeah… I feel tired, that's it." He held Rem's hand over his cheek. "All worn out…"

Suddenly, fear gripped Soma once more, thoughts of the massacre still fresh in his mind. He grabbed Rem's hand and ran, he didn't care _where_ he was going, he just wanted to run away.

"Soma!" Rem called out his name in concern, making them both stop suddenly

Soma let go of Rem's hand, staring at her as they both tried to catch their breath.

* * *

After calming down, Soma took Rem to the balcony with a view of the entire city, sighing to himself as he tried to regain his composure.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…" Soma touched the stone as he spoke, he was surprised at himself and somewhat embarrassed.

"Really, you mustn't do that." Rem smiled as she nervously played with her hair, still surprised from Soma's sudden hug. "I know you're giving a great deal of thought to our situation when you do these sorts of things." She smiled again, looking up at the him. "Although… I don't hate it when you're so forceful." She closed her eyes.

"Sorry about that. I'm usually so pathetic." Soma tried to smile, but his mortified expression still remained. "Getting worked up and depressed all the time." He stretched his arms. "But I get it now."

"What do you mean by that? Get what?" Rem's eyes brightened as she listened to Soma, even though his expression was the same, she saw a smile.

"I've been contemplating, agonizing and quite frankly, I've been a bother." Soma leaned on the stone. "Honestly, it's what I should've done a long time ago. Sorry again, sometimes I just don't know when to give up…" He smiled nervously, scratching his cheek as he thought of his actions.

"But I think that's one of the things I find so wonderful about you." Rem tilted her head and smiled at Soma once more.

"A reality I was finally forced to see… things I tried to ignore, but no more." Soma tried to speak in a jovial tone through his fake smile and frightened eyes. "I finally get it and I've made a decision, Rem…"

"Which is?" Rem smiled as she waited for Soma's declaration.

"Run away with me…" Soma held out his hand to Rem desperation now mixed with the agony in his expression. "Far _far_ away from here."

"Huh…?" Rem stared at Soma, confused by his sudden and uncharacteristic request.

"I'm getting out of here… no matter what, I'm leaving and never looking back." Soma finally allowed his true feelings to show in his voice. "Everything I do, it always-"

"Wait a second-" Rem approached Soma, now very concerned for him.

"Maybe another country, or another _continent…" _ Soma continued to speak despite Rem's attempt at protesting. "Just far away from everything…"

"Hold on, what are you-" Rem tried protesting again, seeing hos determined and anxious Soma was becoming with each word.

"I can't stay here… not any longer." Soma held his shoulders as he remembered more of the massacre.

"Soma, wait." Rem held her hand up, gesturing at Soma to stop talking. "The way you're talking sounds like you're serious about this." Her concern grew. "As if you want to go to another country that isn't Lugnica." She smiled, trying to be positive. "Oh! Knowing you, it must be because you've had another great idea about what our next move should be. Something to help Miss Emilia and Lord Roswaal." She smiled as she tried to see the good in him. "That's it, right?" She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together.

"No, that's not it…" Soma's expression became more somber, he didn't feel worthy of Rem's high opinion of him. "There's nothing I can do here. And I'd still be dangerous if I headed back to the mansion…" He looked down. "That's what I figured out. So again, run away with me!" He pleaded. "Please, Rem… I can't stay. That's what I've known this whole time. I didn't want to believe it… I wanted to be with you all, but I can't. I'm… a monster."

"No that's not-" Rem's eyes widened, she didn't want to hear Soma being so hard on himself.

"Over and over again… that answer's been staring me right at the face!" Soma snapped suddenly, raising his voice to get his point across. "That's why I have to disappear… everything I do just leads to bloodshed." His voce shook. "I'm done with all this… let's run, Rem."

"But this is all so sudden. I can't think straight." Rem nervously shuffled, finding it hard to take in everything Soma was saying.

"I'm sorry this is so sudden, I mean it." Soma pleaded to Rem with desperate eyes. "I'm running out of time… so please choose."

"What do you mean?" Rem's concern only grew as Soma spoke.

"Choose me… or choose someone else, but you have to choose!" Soma's voice suddenly grew more desperate. "Let's get a land dragon carriage and head to a port… sail _far_ away from Lugnica. We'll buy a house by the seaside and live there together. Even if bad things happen, I can keep on living if you're there." He balled his fists in frustration. "Just knowing you're waiting for me with a smile… I can get through anything!" He held his hand out. "So please, choose me! Because if you do… I'll give you all that I am forever… so please…"

"Soma…" Rem smiled at his sincerity, but quickly changed her expression to one of guilt. "Look, I'm sorry… but I can't run away with you. We have a plan…. I mean, we're supposed to sit around and laugh together as we talk about the future, remember?" She closed her eyes as tears formed under them.

Soma stood there, speechless in the face of Rem's tears and sincerity.

"I… I remember." Soma thought back to his earlier conversation with Rem. "And maybe we can't laugh now but…" He forced another smiled. "But once we start… there's no doubt in my mind that-"

"I've thought about it too, you know?" Rem interrupted before Soma could finish speaking, looking up at him and smiling. "We would settle down together and rent a place to stay. As long as we had a home and some work, we can get by somehow." She spoke about her plans for the future, raising one finger. "Fortunately thanks to the graciousness of Lord Roswaal, I've received a formal education, so I think it would be easy for me to find some kind of work. Even far away. You on the other hand might have to do manual labor or maybe just take care of things around whatever work I have." She closed her eyes and smiled. "Like an assistant or something."

Soma listened to Rem intently as citizens of the city walked the streets down below.

"Once we have a stable income, we could look for a better place to live." Rem smiled as she continued to tell Soma about her plans for their future. "In the meantime, you could study, maybe a year or two, so that you'd be able to go out and find a decent job. Something that would benefit from your creativity. We would go to work and spend our evenings together and once we had enough money; we could buy a house." She smiled and clasped her hands together. "Maybe open up a little shop of our own. And once our jobs are on track… umm it's embarrassing to say." She covered her face bashfully "But… we could have a baby."

Soma listened, now slightly moved by how much Rem had planned for them.

"The child would be half demon and half human." Rem nervously played with her fingers. "So I'm sure it would be feisty, but I know that they would be completely adorable. Whether we ended up with a boy, a girl, twins or even triplets." She closed her eyes and counted with her fingers. "I'm sure that it won't be all fun and games and good times… and I know that not everything would work out exactly how I imagined it… I mean, the two of us might end up having only daughters and no sons. So if you were hoping to pass down your family name, you might end up being disappointed with that."

"Rem, I…" Soma still looked sad and mortified, but hearing Rem's devotion was warming his heart.

"But either way, you don't need to worry." Rem moved her hands defensively. "Even when the children grow up and reach the age where they might begin to treat you coldly, I'll still be right there by your side." She closed her eyes and nodded with a smile. And in the neighborhood, we'd be known as old romantic lovebirds… the kind that still laugh and flirt with each other after so many years… growing old together…"

"Then why don't-" Soma trued to speak, if Rem had this all planned out, then why did she not want to run away with him?

"I would feel bad for doing such a thing to you…" Rem spoke to Soma in a guilty tone. "But I would prefer to die before you if possible. I want to die quietly in the home we made together… lying on our bed with your hand in mine. Surrounded by our children and their children." She blushed as she gazed at Soma with love-filled eyes. "And I'd say… I've lived such a happy life. Then with all you there, take my last breath. If I could do that, I'd end my life so happily… so very happily…"

"I don't understand…" Soma shook his head, suddenly tearing up upon hearing her words. "Then why, Rem? If you want it that badly then why can't-"

"Because you're not smiling…" Rem closed her eyes, knowing that everything Soma said was in fear and agony. "If you really wanted that future… one with the two of us growing old together… I would die so happy…" She gazed at him as she held back tears. "I would love a future like that with you… and knowing you truly care enough about me to want me there with you when you run away leaving everything behind…" She blushed and closed her eyes. "Makes me happy from the bottom of my heart. But I'm afraid I can't do it… because I know… if we run away together now… the Soma I'd be leaving behind would be the Soma that I love most."

Soma simply stared at Rem, still trying to take in everything she was saying to him.

"Now please, tell me what happened that's bothering you so…" Rem asked with concern in her voice, knowing that Soma saw or experienced something horrible only for him to shake his head. "If you can't tell me, then just trust me. I swear that I'll do something to make it right."

As he listened to Rem, Soma suddenly remembered her gruesome death from before, holding his head and shaking it vigorously as he held back tears.

"But for now, at least… we should return to the manor." Rem suggested to Soma. "If we can take our time and consider things calmly… Maybe we can find a different answer to whatever the problem is."

"I've agonized over this." Soma then thought of his own death and failure to protect Emilia. "I thought about it, I suffered for it… and that's why… I'm giving up."

"Look, it's easy to do, but…" Rem spoke, trying to encourage Soma.

"Rem… you knew this from the beginning, I'm nothing but a monster." Soma sighed and looked down. "Before I was even born… it was decided for me that I was a monster!"

"No, you're not!" Rem slammed her fist against the wall, now angry at the insults Soma was throwing at himself. "Don't say that!"

"You don't know the first thing about it!" Soma responded, raising his voice in return. "It's more than the Witch, more than anything this world has ever seen… don't you get it? As long as I'm here, I'm a danger to everyone! My powers consume me, but I _have_ to use them _because_ I'm too weak on my own and you all suffer for it… I… I hate myself!"

"Listen to me…" Rem calmed down upon seeing how sad and angry Soma was towards himself. "I know that no matter how deeply you've fallen into the pit of darkness… you still have enough courage to reach out your hand." She remembered all that he risked and sacrificed for her sake. "I love it when you run your hand along my hair, I feel as though we can understand each other without ever saying a word, just through that bit of contact… I love the sound of your voice, just hearing you say a single word makes my heart flutter and feel warmer. I love how much of you I see in your eyes, normally they look so stern and serious, but in those moments when you're being kind to someone, I really love the way they soften…"

Soma stared at Rem, utterly speechless in the face of the words of love Rem was saying to him.

"I love your fingers, too, for a boy, they're so delicate. But when they hold mine, I know they're the strong slender fingers of a man." Rem remembered the first time she and Soma ever held hands. "They make me feel safe. I love the way you move when you're walking… whenever we're out walking together, I love the way you impatiently turn to make sure I'm keeping up with you and never leave me behind."

"Stop…" Soma couldn't take it, he felt overwhelmed by words he felt he didn't deserve.

"I love the way you look when you sleep." Rem blushed as she continued despite Soma's protest. "You seem unguarded, like an infant, and your eyelashes are so long. When I touch your cheek, you calm down and when I playfully touch your lips, you don't even notice… and it makes my heart ache terribly." She held back tears, ready to share everything that was in her heart. "I love you…"

"Why… why would you say that?" Soma asked in disbelief, despite all of Rem's declarations of love, he could see himself as nothing but a monster, Dracula waiting to be awakened.

"When you said you hate yourself and told my why you feel that way…" Rem spoke, still smiling and blushing. "It made me want to counter those reasons and tell you all the absolutely wonderful things that I know and love about you."

"Don't you get it… those are just illusions, the person talking to you right now isn't _real_!" Soma protested, he felt shame and guilt over Rem's love for him. "I'm just a shell… and inside me, the _real_ me is someone evil and terrifying… you've seen those moments when I lose control, that's the real me…"

"That's not true!" Rem raised her voice in anger once more, the very thought that the man she loved being an illusion was both painful and infuriating to her. "You don't know the first thing about yourself! How much do you know about the Soma that I see?" She started to cry. "The one I was just telling you about!"

"Why… why do you love me so much?" Tears gathered under Soma's eyes as he saw Rem's tears. "I'm nothing… just a shell holding something terrible back… and soon I'll be consumed."

"You don't know?" Rem smiled despite her tears and sadness. "Because… you're my hero, Soma…" A flock of doves flew behind her as she spoke. "Back in that dark forest…" She remembered when her demonic instincts took over. "When I didn't even know who I was anymore… and couldn't think of anything but violently lashing out, you were the one who saved me. When I woke up, unable to move, and sister was exhausted after using too much magic, you faced the Ma Beasts all alone as a diversion so we could escape. There was no way you could win, and your life was in real danger… but you still stayed and made your way back to my arms, still worn from the battle. When you finally woke up, you smiled at me, and said the words I wanted to hear most when I wanted to hear the most and the one, I most wanted to hear them from. My time has been stopped for so very long, ever since that horrible fiery night. That tragic night I lost everything I had in this world except for my sister. My time has been stopped." Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she smiled. "It was you who melted my frozen heart through your never-ending care and kindness made the time that had stopped for me for so long start moving again. I'm sure you have no idea how you saved me that morning, or just how happy you made me feel, there was so much joy inside me, I couldn't hold back the tears. Understand?" She held her hand over her chest. "That's why I believe… no matter what painful things may happen, even when it looks like you'll go down in flames… when no one else in the entire world believes in you… when you don't even believe in yourself and you think that you can't go on… I will still believe in you!"

Soma's tears kept flowing, he still felt guilty, but his heart was moved beyond measure by Rem's words.

Rem then suddenly pulled Soma close and hugged him to her chest, much to his surprise.

"The Soma who came into my life and saved me…" Rem spoke lovingly as she held him. "Is the hero who I will always call mine." She closed her eyes and kissed his forehead.

"No matter what I did or how hard I tried… I couldn't save anyone…" Soma remembered all his previous deaths and failures.

"I'm here… don't you see?" Rem smiled as she gazed at Soma. "The Rem you saved is right here…"

"Even if it was all in a past life… I've done unforgivable things…" Soma's expression turned dull and lifeless.

"I'm right here… and I'll never ever blame you." Rem smiled as she moved closer to Soma. "I want to be with you."

"I killed so much people… committed countess atrocities." Soma continued with his self-hating train of thought. "I'm evil and I hate myself…"

"No matter how you feel about yourself…" Rem smiled and suddenly touched Soma cheek, tears still in her eyes. "I still love you…"

"Me of all people…?" Soma gazed gently at Rem, still in doubt. "A shell?"

"I want it to be you…" Rem confessed as she smiled lovingly at Soma. "I wouldn't want for it to be anyone else. If you can't forgive yourself for the sins of your soul, then let's start from here, right now… at this very moment.

"Start what…?" Soma blinked and asked Rem.

"Just like when you started time for me after it had been stopped for so long, we'll make the time that has somehow stopped for you… begin to move again. Let's start over, right here… from square one." Rem smiled and closed her eyes. "No, we'll start from zero." She held her arms out.

As if a broken from a dark and painful trance, Soma gasped as he got a good look at Rem.

"If it's too hard for you to walk on your own, then I'll hold you up." Rem spoke to motivate Soma. "We can both share the burden, supporting each other. Walking side by side… isn't that more or less what you said to me that morning? Show me how gentle you can be, Soma…"

"Rem…" Soma closed his eyes, ready to open his heart to her.

"What is it?" Rem smiled, waiting for Soma to speak.

"Please… never leave my side…" Soma finally gave Rem a genuine smile, holding both her hands in his.

Rem and Soma closed their eyes, both of them moving closer to one another and kissing. Her once unrequited love was both acknowledged and reciprocated and Rem couldn't be any happier.

* * *

Returning to the present, Dracula's reverie was broken by the sound of an army outside his castle. He walked to the balcony to see enemies in the thousands waiting to confront him, but that didn't concern him, not in the face of the solitude and anger he now felt.

He was immortal, there were no more do overs until someone could finally kill him and give him the chance to reverse his fate.

Clawing at the walls he glared hatefully at the army as a flame blazed in his eyes as he was engulfed by a pillar of black and red fire and from the inferno, his draconic form emerged to take down the army threatening him. The humans and cultists that took the one he loved away from him.

* * *

Author's note: So my Re:Zero and Castlevania one shot is done. Being completely honest, this wasn't planned whatsoever, I just got the idea in my head and decided to write it down. It only took about four hours of writing to get this done.

Re:Zero and Castlevania was a pretty fun crossover to do and the idea of Soma becoming the historical Dracula of another world is really fun to toy with. Dracula exists in our world, so the legend has to be reborn in another.

In the main story, Castlevania: Rebirth and Requiem, the main pairing will be a love triangle between Soma, Emilia and Rem.

Soma's power of Dominance and Dracula's soul are slowly consuming Soma's consciousness and that's due to Satella's influence and magic, more will be explained in the main story.

Soma's a very flexible type of protagonist, so he works in almost any isekai story, even if most isekais are overdone comedy fests now.


End file.
